Online Activity Generators and Other Resources

Resource / URL / / / / / / / / / / / /
Quia /
Classroom management/website, Question Banks, randomized quizzes, Millionaire, Battleship, Jeopardy games / , /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Class Tools /
Wordshoot, Dustbin vocabulary games; lots of templates for graphic organizers / * /  / 
Study Stack /
Online and printables; download flashcards to SmartPhones and Ipods / = /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Educational Press /
Bingo cards, trace words, word walls / = /  /  /  / 
Discovery Teacher /
Cryptograms, magic square, hidden phrases / space /  /  / 
Flashcard Maker /
foldable 1-sided flashcards instead of
2-sided / <tab> /  / 
Quiz Star / /  / 
Quizlet / online flashcards with optional audio/video; download to mobile device / <tab> /  /  /  / 
Sen Teacher /
Picture flashcard generator, dominoes, coins, clocks, fans, faces, spinners, dice /  /  /  /  / 
Other Useful Links!
Education World / / Worksheets, certificates, graphic organizers
Curriculum Bits / / Whiteboard Dice
Curriculum Bits / / Whiteboard Scoreboard – 4 teams
ClassTools / / Bomb stopwatch
Stopwatch / / Online Stopwatch and countdown timer
Freegames / / Simon game
Miniclip / / Peg Solitaire Game
Google / / Create sets of related vocab lists from 3-4 terms
Stock photos / / Royalty-free clipart
Crickweb / / Royalty-free clipart
Jan Brett / / Great calendars, coloring pages, printable murals and lots more
SkillBuilders / / Arcade-style; Race a car, penguin, tractor and more to practice basic math facts, phonics, verbs, antonyms, spelling, parts of speech, states, capitols, countries and more against computer or human players
Rubistar / / Easily create rubrics to score projects
Word List Generator / / Generate lists of words based on phonetic structure, Dolch or Fry words
Smiley Stressball / / Great large-motor incentive game for the Smartboard

Delimiter for importing terms
Free resource
Fee/subscription based
Quiz
Flashcards
Matching
Worksheets
Hangman
Word Search
Crossword Puzzle
Arcade-style Games
Quiz Show-style Games

REWORK STINKS!

After retyping next week’s spelling test (in large type for Bobby, in manuscript for Tommy, with challenge words for Jimmy, 30 vocabulary terms and definitions from the science book, a jumbled word puzzle using the same terms, key words in from the new unit on North Dakota studies, Mr. Johnson paused to pen a quick story problem for tomorrow’s math class:

If Mr. Johnson types 50 w.p.m. and has to retype 6 lists of 30 words each for class each week, how many hours before his fingers fall off?

Wisdom from the manufacturing floor

  • Spend time on the front-end of the process and consider what the final product will look like
  • Combine like processes
  • Automate or streamline workflow
  • Don’t reinvent the wheel
  • Remember the GIGO principle

Mining for Educational Data

Textbook Publisher Websites and CDs

Glencoe

Holtmy.hrw.com/

Prentice Hall

McGraw Hill

McDougal Littell

Google Sets

Google Sets lets users create a unique list of terms by entering a few words from a set. Try entering a few vocabulary terms from a unit.

Word List Generator

The Word List Generator can be used to make a set of words to help students practice sounding-out and word recognition skills, spelling lists, Dolch and Fry word lists, rimes, rhyming words. Supports wildcards and many common spelling patterns.

Reformat, Reuse and Repurpose

Reformat – organize the data for ease of access

Reuse – use the same dataset to create a variety of learning materials

Repurpose – look at data and activities from a new point of view; innovate

Reformat

  • Remove unwanted content from the vocabulary list such as titles, headers, and instructions.
  • If the data appears in a table, convert the table to text.
  • Remove repetitive unwanted text using Word’s Search & Replace tool.
  • Create a <tab> between the term and its definition.
  • Remove extra carriage returns in between terms and at the end of the document
  • Ensure that the document does not have any indents or line space options incompatible with a text file
  • Save the file in a Plain Text format
  • Replace the <tab> character with the required delimiter for the activity generator being used.
  • Save the file in a Plain Text format

Reuse

  • Transfer formatted data into Excel to add labels, multiple choice answers, fill in hints and point values.
  • Sort and organize dataset in Excel; select data for question set.
  • Use Word’s Mail Merge feature to create a question bank from the selected Excel data and a Word template
  • Import the question bank and create a quiz.

Repurpose

  • Fruit machine and Typewriter
  • Create Powerpoint slides from a word list
  • Create graphics for use on Smartboard from Powerpoint
  • Flash games – waste of time? Or maybe they could be used as . . .